Urban Water Cycle

The Urban Water Cycle program of the Ecology Center invites participants to explore and contrast the urban water cycle and the natural water cycle, and to learn where New York City gets its drinking water. After distinguishing between these two cycles, participants are asked to think of how different plants and animals use water. Participants may also explore activities about weather monitoring and water-related data collection. The program ends with a personal water use survey that will force participants to examine when and what they use water for every day.

Water Conservation

The need for water conservation is sometimes hard for people to appreciate because water is such a basis need that it is taken for granted, and New York is a city that has long had access to quality tap water. The source of this high quality water is also far removed from the City, located in the watersheds and reservoirs of upstate New York. However, as the population of the City and upstate increases, there is a growing need for New York to turn its attention to this most precious of all resources. The Ecology Center's Water Conservation programs show how and why our water supply is at risk and what can be done about it. They will recommend ways for everyone to introduce practical efficiencies into their lives, while noting the impacts we all are having daily on our water supply. Water conservation classes both focus on the obvious needs for water in our daily lives (for drinking, showering, and cooking for example) and how surface water is an important source of recreation for New Yorkers.